Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Oyster Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Combine the cut oysters, cold water, and salt in a stew-pan.
Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Skim the broth well and strain it.
Thicken and finish
Rub the butter and cracker flour into a smooth paste in a bowl.
Blend enough of the broth with the paste to achieve a cream-like consistency.
Pour the mixture into the boiling broth.
Add the cream, black pepper, and whole oysters.
Boil once and serve hot with crackers.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,886 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavour and tender texture of the soup.
- Cracker flour
- Forms a smooth paste with butter that thickens the broth into a creamy consistency.
- Butter
- Coats the flour so it blends smoothly into the broth without lumps and adds richness.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Blending the flour paste into the broth. If the paste is added straight to the broth it clumps, because flour granules need to be dispersed in liquid first. Blending with a little warm broth to a smooth, cream-like paste lets the starch thicken evenly when poured back in.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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